Why can’t the medical experts make up their minds? That’s a question we hear often when the guidelines for eating a healthy diet, treating high blood pressure or lowering the risk of heart attacks suddenly change. Many people complain about medical flip-flops.

It isn’t only patients who become frustrated about medical reversals. Physicians also become upset when they discover that a treatment they have been using is not supported by strong evidence. But sometimes it takes a surprisingly long time for that problem to come to light.

Are reversals an inevitable part of the scientific process, or is there a way to avoid the whiplash? Find out what types of scientific research are least likely to result in reversals and what changes might be able to minimize such medical flip-flops. The website our guests mentioned that can be useful in sorting out which studies make sense and which might need to be confirmed before anyone accepts the findings is HealthNewsReview.org.

Adam Cifu, MD, is a general internist and professor of medicine at the University of Chicago School of Medicine.

Vinay K. Prasad, MD, MPH, is assistant professor of medicine in the Division of Hematology Oncology in the Knight Cancer Institute. He is also a Senior Scholar in the Center for Health Care Ethics in the Department of Public Health and Preventive Medicine at Oregon Health and Sciences University. The photograph is of Dr. Prasad. His website is www.vinayakkprasad.com

Drs. Cifu and Prasad are co-authors of the book, Ending Medical Reversal: Improving Outcomes, Saving Lives.

The podcast of this program will be available the Monday after the broadcast date. The show can be streamed online from this site and podcasts can be downloaded for free.

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